The beautiful actress cum producer Anushka Sharma made her
debut as a producer with the dark thriller NH10 and now her second production endeavor
is a comic ghost story set against the backdrop of a Punjabi marriage.
The story revolves around as Kanan accidentally marries a
ghost, Shashi, while conducting pre-wedding rituals to get rid of bad luck. But
as luck would have it, Shashi sticks around and turns into his agony aunt. Kanan
(Suraj Sharma), a Punjabi lad studying in Canada, comes back to his hometown in
Punjab to get married to his childhood sweetheart Anu (Mehreen Kaur Pirzada). But,
on discovering that Kanan is a 'manglik', the family decides to get him married
to a tree as per traditions before his actual marriage. This ritual but
complicates everything when Shashi (Anushka Sharma), a ghost residing on the
tree starts haunting Kanan as she considers herself married to him. In the
meantime, Kanan develops cold feet about this wedding, which strains his
relationship with Anu. On interacting more with Shashi, Kanan discovers her
life story, which comprises her protective elder brother (Manav Vij) and her
star-crossed lover (Diljit Dosanjh), a rural singer. How Kanan helps Shashi
find solace and gets his own life back on track in the process, forms the rest
of the plot.
Suraj Sharma had become a known face after the success of
Life Of Pi but unable to impress with latest act in this movie and seems to
have a same expression throughout the movie while Mehreen is watchable.
Anushka, Manav and Diljit manage are OK with their efforts. Anushka delivers a
solid performance with a weird mix of sadness and humour.
Though the initial twenty minutes of the movie seem to
promise an entertaining story, the plot starts going downward from then on. The
pace is slow and uninspiring and the screenplay is relatively slack. The
invisibility of the ghost can only get so many laughs; the tale shifts between
Shashi’s past and Kanan’s present seem unexpected; the soulful songs are easy
on the ears but strain your eyes by adding to the runtime, and most notably,
Shashi’s story is largely formulaic.
Ideally, Phillauri is a winner and that much was evident
from the promo. The story is superbly original, culturally on point and has
great potential. The problem is, you only get what you see in the trailer. The funny,
exciting one-line plot develops into a two-and-a-half hour movie that is full
of romantic-movie tropes.
Phillauri had a very innovative marketing. From Anushka
replying a journalist’s call to #ShashiWasThere, the movie was promoted hard.
Luckily, Phillauri’s strong buzz did not weaken with its release. It has set
the box office on fire in north India and it is only anticipated to grow in
days to come. And why not, after all Phillauri gives us something that the
current breed of love stories dearth — not just an old school romance but
moments where you can stop and feel your heartbeat.
Phillauri takes references from the traditional stories
where ghosts and spirits are a part of stories for every generation. Shah Rukh
Khan’s Paheli took us to Rajasthan and its hidden stories. Anushka Sharma gives
us Punjab. The first half of the movie is mesmerizing and you won’t even
realise when it is half time. A crisper editing here and there post interval
could’ve worked wonders for Phillauri.
Overall, it is worthy to watch once for the funny ghost of
Anushka Sharma with a few good performances. It is a light-hearted, average
love story.
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